Kit led her through the narrow hallway past the servants’ rooms on the top floor, and pushed open a window at the back of the house. The roof leveled off outside, and he scrambled out, helping Jennie behind him.
“Oh my!” She clutched his arm and stared, open-mouthed at the view.
London spread in front of them, lamps winking in the indigo blue twilight. The dome of St. Paul’s glowed in the distance, presiding over a city settling down to sleep or to revels, depending on the citizen. Up here the air was cool and fresh.
Kit produced a bottle and two glasses from beside the chimney. “Since you’re a real Londoner now, you should have some champagne.”
Jennie’s eyes grew wide. “Did you— Where did that—?”
“I bought it,” he assured her. “Don’t worry. I didn’t pinch it from the cellar.”
“I’ve never had it.” She took a glass and sniffed it nervously.
“It’s wine. You don’t have to drink it, but I thought you might like it.”
She took a tiny sip and looked at him in amazement. “You bought this? How can you afford such stuff?” Another sip.
Kit poured his own. He’d decided he liked champagne while with Lord Percy, who was wont to leaving unfinished bottles sitting around, and wave his hand and say Kit should have the rest. Lord Percy was usually blue-gilled when he said it, but he never flew into a temper the next day. Even a bit flat, champagne was fine stuff, and Kit had decided it was a hard-earned benefit of working for him.
Now he sat down on the wide ledge, with his back against the chimney. There was just room for two people out here, and his feet dangled off into space, some forty feet from the ground.
Jennie sat beside him, tucking her skirts around her. “’Tis beautiful out here.”
“It is.” He watched her from the corner of his eye. Since coming to London she’d started wearing her hair differently. It showed off her lovely neck and her perfectly adorable ears.
She glanced at him and smiled. “Thank you for all your help,” she said shyly.
“Anyone could tell you where to buy stockings.”
“I know,” she whispered. “But I prefer to ask you. I hope you don’t mind.”
“I prefer it above you asking anyone else.”
They sat for a moment in blissful companionship. Jennie was so easy to be with, so warm and kind. She never nattered at anyone, or pestered or harangued. Martha, hired from the register office, had remarked on how friendly Jennie was for a lady’s maid.
“Are you pleased with Mr. St. James?” she asked after a few minutes.
His brows went up. “Yes.”
She sipped her wine. “Then you expect to keep working for him for a long time?”
“I hope to.” He did. Not only was St. James a decent fellow, he paid good wages, on time. Kit had been able to put aside a small sum just since starting with him.
And then there was that other reason, the one Kit would not say aloud. Not yet. He thought Jennie was fond of him, but he wasn’t sure it was more than her ordinary engaging manner, and he didn’t presume anything. You’re not a tomcat, young man, don’t be acting like one, his mother used to tell him.
“Why do you ask?” he dared inquire.
Even in the twilight he could see her blush. “No reason! Most of us at Perusia have been with the Tates forever. I didn’t know how you might feel in Marslip.”
Well now. To Marslip, he was indifferent. The Tates and St. Jameses were perfectly decent. But Jennie . . .
Perhaps it was time to test his luck a little.
“Hoping I’ll give notice?” he asked.
“No!” Jennie almost shrieked. Her heart thudded alarmingly. That was the very last thing she wanted. “Of course not,” she managed to add more calmly. “I only wondered . . .”
She wondered why he had bought a bottle of champagne—expensive wine!—for the two of them. She wondered what he meant by inviting her to sit out here on the roof with him. They’d simply sat in the kitchen hall, talking and relaxing, on other nights the St. Jameses had gone out.
And she wondered how this fine London valet, accustomed to serving lords, could stay in a hamlet like Marslip. Not that she wanted him to leave—very much the opposite. But other girls had warned her about restless men, and she didn’t want to be silly about him.
“What did you wonder?” His voice could be so soft, like warmed velvet.
Jennie melted a little inside